a conversation with his brother could wait. He pressed the button to send the call to voice mail.
“Matilda,” Belle repeated before Garrett could say anything. “I should have known she could k-i-l-l someone.”
That got his attention. And he was thankful his mother had spelled out the key word. “You really think she could have done this?”
“Absolutely. Agoraphobia, my f-a-n-n-y. That woman had secrets, I tell you, and I’m betting the d-e-a-d f-e-l-l-a was one of those.” Belle leaned in to whisper the rest. “Matilda had h-o-t p-a-n-t-s.”
Garrett hoped that was a fashion comment, but he doubted it was. “Did she have men visit her here?”
“Well, of course she did. That’s what women with h-o-t p-a-n-t-s do. Now, mind you, I don’t know the names of those men, but Loretta might remember one or two of them. She was still living in Wrangler’s Creek when Matilda was here.”
Then, Clay would need to talk to both Loretta and his mom. And speaking of Loretta, that was Garrett’s cue to turn this conversation in a different direction. Yes, the body was top priority, but Garrett had a priority of his own.
“Why did you give these women a lease?” he asked Belle at the same moment his mother asked, “Are the widows upset because of the d-e-a-d b-o-d-y?”
He huffed. “Of course, they’re upset,” he verified. “I’m upset. And you’re not getting out of explaining to me how you could sign a lease without talking it over with me first. These women can’t be here.”
His mother patted his arm in a “there, there” gesture. “It was the right thing to do. They needed a place to stay, and it’ll be so nice to have someone living here again. The house needs that. It needs some cleaning and repairs, too,” she added, glancing around. “That cleaning crew I hired should have been here by now.”
It took Garrett a moment just to form words and rein in his temper. He loved his mother, most days anyway, but this was not one of those days. “You’ll have to break the lease. I’ll pay—”
But that was as far as he got because his mother’s attention was no longer on him. Smiling, she moved away from him and walked to the stairs. Kaylee did, as well, and that’s when Garrett saw Nicky making her way down the steps. Judging from the tight grip Nicky had on the railing, she still wasn’t feeling too steady.
“There you are,” his mother said, and the moment Nicky reached the bottom, Belle hugged her. “Nicky Henderson, you look beautiful as always.”
It shouldn’t have surprised Garrett that Belle felt as if she knew Nicky well enough to hug her. After all, they’d probably talked face-to-face to make arrangements for the lease. Later, Garrett was sure he’d hear all about how those arrangements had come to pass, but now that he had both of them together, he could get this sorted out.
“This has to be so upsetting,” Belle said. She broke the hug but kept her hands on Nicky’s shoulders. “I had no idea about the b-o-d-y being here.” She shuddered. “But Clay will sort this all out. He’s the police chief, and he’s marrying Sophie, you know? You remember Garrett’s sister, Sophie, right?”
“Yes.” Nicky’s voice sounded as unsteady as she looked. “Congratulations on your engagement.”
Sophie scrounged up a smile, nodded, thanked her and then excused herself so she could make her way to the kitchen, no doubt to check on Clay. Garrett would have liked for her to stay as his ally, but he could remedy this on his own.
Kaylee finally let go of Garrett and hurried to her mother. Or rather to Belle. She caught Belle’s hand.
“You and your daughter are both pretty as pictures.” His mother glanced around. “Where’s Loretta?”
“Upstairs, cleaning. She’ll be down in a minute.”
“Can’t wait to see her. We’ve got so much catching up to do.”
“Catching up will have to wait. Clay is bringing in a medical examiner,” Garrett explained to Nicky and his mother. “All of us are going to have to clear out.”
“Of course,” Belle agreed.
Finally, they were getting somewhere. But it wasn’t the direction Garrett needed them to go.
“Look at you,” his mother added to Nicky. Heck, Belle was smiling again. Definitely not a good sign. She leaned in, put her mouth closer to Nicky’s ear. “There’s a bond between people who were as close as Garrett and you were. I can see the way you look at him.”
Everything inside Garrett went still. He wasn’t sure how his mother had known about Nicky and him, but obviously she did. Things suddenly got a whole lot clearer. This wasn’t about providing a place for widows.
Belle was matchmaking.
And he was about to stop it.
“I’ll call some of the hands to get out here and help move the women’s things,” Garrett offered. Actually, it was more than an offer. It was a demand. There weren’t any hotels in Wrangler’s Creek, but there were some on the interstate back toward San Antonio. They could make their way there.
“No need. I’ve already taken care of that,” Belle assured him. “The men are on the way here now.”
Garrett blew out a breath of relief. But the relief didn’t last. Because he saw the look on his mother’s face, and he just knew in his gut that she was about to contribute to the shit storm.
“What did you do?” Garrett came right out and asked.
His mother patted his arm again. “Nothing that any other kindhearted woman wouldn’t have done. I called Roman and cleared it with him since the ranch house belongs to him and all.”
And then Belle added something that put the icing on this shit storm.
“The widows and Kaylee will be staying with us.”
“HAVE YOU LOST your sonofabitching mind?” Garrett asked his brother the moment Roman answered the phone.
“Some would say that I never had a mind to lose, sonofabitching or otherwise,” Roman calmly answered. “And now that we’ve gotten the profanity out of the way, I guess you’re calling about the widows?”
“You bet your ass, I am.” Garrett wasn’t through with the profanity just yet, and he shut the door to his office just in case some of those widows were around to hear him chew out his brother. “What the hell were you thinking when you told Mom she could let those six women stay here?”
“I was thinking the same thing I’m thinking right now with you. What’s the fastest way to get this person off the phone? Because I don’t have time for this. I’ve got a business to run, and I’m stomping out fires left and right while raising a tweenager with a bad attitude.”
That was the pot calling the kettle black. Roman had had a bad attitude since birth. According to their mother, when he’d come
